USD Approves2014 Drag Show on April 10!click herefor more information and to respond

“perversity does not make diversity just because it’s at the university.”Tennessee State Senator: Stacey Campfield (quoted in Fox News article)

USD mocks its Catholic Identity

Sells out to homosexual agenda

The following came May 10 via email from Charles S. LiMandri, USD Class of 1977.

On Thursday, April 25, 2013, the University of San Diego, my alma mater, held its second annual Drag Show, tripling the attendance of last year’s similarly scandalous event. Despite protests by concerned Catholics — and even an on-line petition sponsored by TFP-Student Action (www.tfpstudentaction.org) to cancel the event which garnered over 8,000 signatures in just a few days — the wayward USD Administration condoned and promoted the event.

Openly lesbian theology professor Evelyn Kirkley was the architect of the drag show last year. She told the attending students that they were now “revolutionaries” in support of the gay agenda. Openly lesbian, philosophy professor Lori Watson was again prominently involved this year. She ensured that the students on hand got a good dose of anti-Catholic indoctrination. Once again, the theme of the drag show was that your gender is what you perceive it to be, rather than the one that God bestowed on you. In fact, according to Dr. Watson’s twisted logic, we areallin drag.

Drag show opponents conduct prayer vigil

Nowhere present was the Catholic teaching that we are made in the image and likeness of God, either male or female, and that we are called to embrace the sexuality determined by our chromosomes at conception. What were present were role models in the form of professional transvestites, who promote the gay lifestyle and same-sex marriage. There were male students convincingly made up to look like females and vice versa. This included a boyish looking girl who proclaimed that she was bi-sexual – to the applause of USD students who were deceived into believing this is consistent with Catholic values.

And why should they not think so? The USD faculty were present at the event as judges, and the administration was careful to send out letters, both before and after the drag show, falsely claiming that it did not contradict Catholic teaching. The official teaching of the Catholic Church regarding sexual identity and homosexual behavior demonstrates the falsity of the statements made by the USD administration which, tragically, is all too content to lead its students into apostasy. The latest heretical documents issued by the Administration can be viewed on the website www.AlumniForACatholicUSD.org in the section for the 2013 Drag Show. That website also includes a section providing the authentic Catholic teaching on the subject of gender and human sexuality, including statements from the Catholic catechism and the Holy Father.

The May 2 issue of the USD student newspaper, theVista, demonstrates the extent to which student organizations on campus are now obsessed with promoting LGBTQ issues. That edition of the newspaper devotes about one-third of its twenty pages of print space to this radical agenda. And, once again, the authentic Catholic viewpoint is nowhere mentioned, except to be contradicted and ridiculed. TheVistareports that the USD Administration even invited the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence to the drag show, one of which was widely featured on the television news. The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is a militant group that openly mocks Catholic teaching in blasphemous and profane ways, to the point that it has been officially rebuked by the Vatican. This did not deter USD from giving these perverse Sisters a platform from which to further attack the Church and corrupt USD students.

Some faithful Catholics who wanted to assemble in prayer to protest the event on campus were turned away at the gate. Similarly, last year USD alumni were denied the right to say the rosary in the unoccupied Founders Chapel because “there was too much going on” the night of the first drag show. Fortunately, the Church provides remedies for devout Catholics to appropriately address these grave concerns. The faithful are encouraged to look for updates atwww.AlumniForACatholicUSD.org and to follow the progress being made to save USD from itself.

Alumni For A Catholic USD is a project of the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund. The fund is a religious nonprofit organization that was launched in September 2012. Its mission is to protect and promote our nation’s Judeo-Christian values through educational programs and the defense of religious liberty in the courts. To learn more about our group and how you can help it reclaim our culture, visit the website atwww.ConscienceDefense.org.

We need your help for a few minutes to stop a grievous injury to the Body of Christ.

Hard as it is to believe, on April 11, 2012, the University of San Diego, which is my alma mater and a Catholic institution, held its first on-campus "drag show." As described in my emails below to alumni, USD even had a local "drag queen" appear as emcee.

Please take a moment to contact Mary Lyons, the President of USD, at the e-mail in the last paragraph below, to lodge your objection to this deprave and corrupting event. It would be especially helpful for people with some connection to USD to contact President Lyons. Please also copy us on your e-mail at the e-mail address on the “Take Action” page.

Only by working together as we have done in the past, as with the successful campaigns to save the Mt. Soledad Cross (Prop. A) and traditional marriage (Prop. 8), can we prevail in redeeming our culture and defending our faith. Thank you for your support and God bless you

As you may have heard, the University of San Diego had its first “Drag Show" on Wednesday, April 11, 2012. Along with other former presidents of the Alumni Association and members of the current Alumni Board, I contacted the University’s administration to voice my objections to this event. I also set up a website - www.AlumniForACatholicUSD.org. - so that alums and other members of the community could learn about this issue and contact the University. USD President Mary Lyons and Alumni Director Charles Bass were inundated with objections from thousands of people. Over 80 of those e-mails are included in the "Take Action" section of the website. But the University ignored us all.

Because USD’s administration has refused to address our serious concerns, we are now bringing this situation to the attention of thousands of additional USD alums. Please visit the website. You’ll find USD's position on the Drag Show and our response. Contrary to the statements of the USD Administration, this was not merely a student-run event. USD faculty participated as judges at the contest and addressed the crowd of some 200 students. A local "drag queen", Tootie Nefertootie, was brought in to emcee this depraved event. The openly lesbian Religious Studies Professor, Evelyn Kirkley, who advises the student “Pride” group that sponsored the Drag Show, told these students that they are "revolutionaries". Several present called for there to be "genderless" bathrooms at USD. The entire event effectively encouraged USD students to dissent from Catholic teaching on issues concerning the acceptance of gender"flexibility" and homosexual conduct.

On the website, you will find information on Catholic teaching which includes pertinent excerpts from the Catholic Catechism on these issues. Sadly, the faculty members who participated in the event were more concerned with their own political agendas than truly enlightening their students. The USD students who attended the Drag Show were left blissfully ignorant of Catholic moral teaching on these important issues. Unfortunately, this is apparently also true of some recent USD alums who have set-up an opposition website ("A USD For Everyone") promoting their misguided views of "equality" and Christian "love." These views are undoubtedly being reinforced in the current student body through anti-Catholic indoctrination by certain "Rainbow" faculty and administration now firmly entrenched at USD.

For these reasons, we are asking your support in holding the USD administration and faculty accountable for their actions. Please let them know, as many alums have already done, that you will no longer support the University until it promises to return to its founding principles as a Catholic institution of higher learning. We propose that USD do so in the following five ways:

1. As recommended by Blessed Pope John Paul II in Ex Corde Ecclesiae, USD’s Theology professors will be required to take the Mandatum, pledging fidelity to the Magisterium of the Catholic Church in their instruction, pursuant to the guidelines adopted by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (As to the pressing need for this important step please see the "Statements of Theology Students" in the "Anti-Catholic Influences at USD" section of the website);

2. USD will not allow any more drag shows or gay dances on the USD campus;

3. At any USD event where there are speakers on the issues of abortion or "same-sex marriage," USD will ensure that the authentic Catholic position is presented by someone who actually believes it. (If there are no faculty left at USD who can do this then Catholic Answers, located in San Diego, can accurately provide the Catholic perspective);

4. USD will not allow students to do internships with, or get course credits or service hours by working at, any organization that supports abortion or "same-sex marriage;" and

5. USD will not provide any "genderless" bathrooms, locker rooms or dorm rooms.

My wife Barbara and I, who met on the USD Alumni Board, have five children and we would like nothing more than to send them to a fine academic institution like USD, so long as it is authentically Catholic. In fact, our eldest son was a freshman at USD this year on a generous academic scholarship. But the anti-Catholic spirit which has infected the University leaves me no choice but to remove him. I humbly suggest that you too should not send your sons or daughters to USD, or recommend it to others, until it returns to its Catholic roots.

As things presently stand, our sons and daughters cannot get a good Catholic education at USD since it is overrun with dissident professors, especially in the Religious Studies Department. The USD administration is complicit in this dissent and the Board of Trustees has proven unwilling or unable to do anything about it. Consequently, the task of helping USD reclaim its Catholic identity has fallen to the alumni.

If and when USD agrees to the foregoing conditions, we would urge you to resume your support of the University. In the meantime, please e-mail to Mary Lyons and Charles Bass at the e-mail address included on the "Take Action" section of website, www.AlumniForACatholicUSD.org, to let them know why you must withhold your support from the University. Be sure to copy us at the link provided. Thank you for your assistance in helping USD rediscover its true Catholic identity, and may God bless the entire USD community.

I am writing to bring to your attention a dire concern that I have about our alma mater. On April 11, 2012, USD is planning to have its "First Drag Show" in the University Center. The published description about this so-called "monumental event" is as follows: "PRIDE is hosting USD's first ever drag show. Watch and cheer on students as they compete against each other in pageant-style to be USD's first Supreme Drag Superstar. There will be a lip-sync competition, runway competition, and of course a Q & A session. Local San Diego drag queen Tootie Nefertootie will be MC-ing with a special guest performer." If you want to know who "Tootie Nefertootie" is you can learn more by visiting his/her website at www.tootie.combut please be advised that some may find the content offensive.

USD has already had multiple speakers and workshops on transgender issues, and more scheduled in the future, most recently during this Holy Week on April 4, 2012. The adviser for PRIDE, the openly lesbian USD Religious Studies professor Evelyn Kirkley, has stated that these prior speakers and workshops "did not reach a large number of people." In her position paper on "Why have a drag show at USD?" she further states: "Because a drag show is entertaining, it can reach a wider audience of students who might not ordinarily attend a speaker or workshop... It enables students to become more educated and aware of the fluidity of gender identity and expression... Transgressing gender norms, such as cross-dressing, can trigger cultural anxieties, but can also be seen as entirely 'normal'". Of course, Professor Kirkley's five page single-spaced justification for having a drag show at USD does not mention that Gender Identity Disorder (GID) is considered to be a form of mental illness and the Bible expressly condemns cross-dressing (Deuteronomy 22:5).

I am seeking your support in protesting this event to protect potentially vulnerable students, and because I have a son who is a freshman at USD, and a daughter who is considering attending USD next year upon graduating from Cathedral Catholic High School. I met my wife Barbara on the USD Alumni Board and we now have five children all in Catholic schools. Moreover, as a former President of the USD National Alumni Association, and a past recipient of the Mother Rosalie Hill Award for "extraordinary service" to the university, I care deeply about our alma mater.

I donated the larger than life sized bronze bust of Saint Thomas More, which is located in the rotunda of the USD Law School, because I also care about the values that USD is teaching its students. When I graduated from USD as the Associated Students President, and the Outstanding Senior Man in 1977, USD still prided itself as a "value-oriented university". The values that it reflected were those of its founders and were consistent with the time-honored teachings and traditions of the Catholic Church. That was USD's strength then and I believe that those values are needed now, more than ever, in these turbulent times.

I was on the USD Alumni Board between 1985 and 1995 when we helped usher in the diversity and multi-cultural programs. We were happy to do so because we wanted USD to be a safe and supportive learning environment for all its students and to provide an equal opportunity for everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. We were not, however, seeking the promotion of values that are directly contrary to our Catholic faith and traditions. Many of us feel those values have been compromised by having events on campus such as gay dances, and speakers and programs promoting abortion and same-sex marriage; however, enough is enough. What will be next, the obscene plays and pornographic gay film festivals that they have at other universities? As the English philosopher Edmund Burke said: "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

Therefore, please join us in voicing your objection to the drag show on April 11, 2012 by contacting Mary Lyons, the President of USD, at president@sandiego.edu, phone: (619) 260-4520, fax: (619) 260-6833; and Charles Bass, the Director of the USD Alumni Association, at charlesb@sandiego.edu, phone: (619) 260-4819, fax: (619) 260-4188. Because of the shortness of time, this letter is only going out to all current members of the USD Alumni Board, all Past Presidents of the USD Alumni Board, and all current members of the USD Board of Trustees who are alums. If our objections continue to be ignored and this depraved event goes forward, then we are considering sending a letter to our thousands of fellow USD alums to let them know about these serious concerns. We hope that will not be necessary and we thank you for your loyal support of USD and the Catholic values that have made it a great university. In the meantime, please allow me to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a joyous and blessed Easter.